50 years ago: the death of Arturo Toscanini

Parma, Italy, March 25, 1867 – Riverdale-NY, USA , January 16, 1957 One of the greatest conductors ever.

" There are two kinds of conductors. The ones that have the score in their head, and the ones that have their head in the score." "If you want to please the critics, don't play too loud, too soft, too fast, too slow."

Worthy readings: Toscanini bio, a site dedicated to him, The Toscanini Legacy, article from Time Magazine, March 18, 1957. Tons of photographs here, the Corriere della Serra slideshow.

With Giacomo Puccini.

Listen to the NBC Symphony Orchestra 60 minutes performance (photos), Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 extracts here (1936), along with extracts from la Traviata (1946). As for me, I own the precious Maestro Furioso Box Set (10 CDs) that gives an exhaustive view on Toscanini.

Art from George Glazer.

YouTube extracts: Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, Nabucco, conducted by Toscanini (sound only, the photos shown of Milan just after WWII and especially the devasted Scala are very impressive though + there’s a short video of Tosacanini at the end of the recording), May 11, 1946, Concerto della Ricostruzione, Scala. Verdi’s Hymn of the Nations, NBC Symphony Orchestra, 1943, with tenor Jan Peerce.

Bruno Walter, Arturo Toscanini, Erich Kleiber, Otto Klemperer and Wilhelm Furtwängler.